Women's Basketball Seeks 20th Win at Saint Michael's
SNHU (19-8, 14-7 Northeast-10)
vs.
Saint Michael's (11-14, 8-13 Northeast-10)
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:30 pm
Ross Sports Center - Colchester, Vt.
Radio - WTPL 107.7 FM
THE MATCHUP: Southern New Hampshire wraps up the regular season on Tuesday night when it travels to Saint Michael's.
THE COACHES: Karen Pinkos is in her seventh season as head coach at Southern New Hampshire...Pinkos has led the Penmen to five Northeast-10 Tournament berths in her first six seasons and to the program's most victories since 1991 in 2008-09 while guiding SNHU to an 18-11 mark...she has compiled a 90-107 record with the Penmen, including a 62-52 mark since the beginning of the 2008-09 season...she spent 16 years as an assistant coach at the Division I level with New Hampshire, Boston College, Providence and Northeastern...Jen Niebling is in her ninth season at Saint Michael's...an assistant at Vermont for six seasons prior to taking the reigns of the Purple Knights, Niebling won her 100th career game Sunday against Charleston (W.V.) and owns a 110-130 career mark.
THE SERIES: Saint Michael's owns a 23-11 lead in the all-time series with Southern New Hampshire...earlier this season the Penmen posted a 62-44 win over the Purple Knights at the SNHU Fieldhouse...the hosts jumped out to a 36-27 halftime lead and led 45-30 5:26 into the second half...Megan Smith led a balanced attack with 12 points, while Sloane Sorrell and Michelle DeRoma added 11 and 10 points respectively...Coreen Hennessy paced the Purple Knights with 15 points while Nicole Adach added 12 points and six rebounds.
THE PENMEN: Southern New Hampshire won its second straight with a 67-57 win at Merrimack Saturday afternoon...junior Sloane Sorrell leads the Penmen in both scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg) while shooting 57.9% from the floor, ranking second in the Northeast-10 and eighth nationally in in field goal percentage...she also ranks ninth in the league in rebounding and 10th in scoring...Sorrell scored her 1,000th career point February 14 against Stonehill...Sorrell was named Northeast-10 Player of the Week for the second time this season on Monday...Michelle DeRoma has knocked down a team-best 45 three-pointers and is averaging 9.7 ppg...Christine Duffy leads the Penmen in assists with 8.4 per game, while she is averaging 8.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per outing...Duffy ranks first nationally in assists per game among all NCAA divisions and became SNHU's all-time leader in assists February 8 at Franklin Pierce...Megan Smith is averaging 8.3 ppg and 3.5 rpg...she has led the team in scoring four times, including 14 points in a win at Georgian Court...Victoria Wiseman is averaging 7.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game...freshmen Brooke Springfield and Lorreta Rocha are adding 5.1 and 4.3 points per game, respectively...the Penmen are shooting .446 overall, .332 from three-point land and .646 at the free throw line while allowing opponents to shoot .400 from the floor and .316 behind the arc...SNHU is scoring 62.9 points per game while allowing 57.6 while outrebounding foes 35.9-34.6.
THE PURPLE KNIGHTS: Saint Michael's snapped a four-game slide with a 52-41 win over Saint Anselm on Saturday...Nicole Adach leads the Purple Knights in scoring (13.5 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg)...Coreen Hennessy is scoring at a 12.2 ppg clip, while Megan Olsen is scoring 8.6 ppg...Caitlin Quinn has knocked down a team-best 41 three-pointers and is scoring 7.0 ppg...Saint Michael's is shooting .389 overall, .301 from three-point land and .768 at the free throw line while allowing opponents to shoot .414 from the floor and .363 behind the arc...the Purple Knights are scoring 58.6 ppg while allowing 58.6 while getting outrebounded 33.5-33.0.
WHAT'S NEXT: Southern New Hampshire will enter the 10-team Northeast-10 Tournament as either the No. 4, 5 or 6 seed...a win Tuesday coupled with a Franklin Pierce loss to Merrimack would give the Penmen the fourth seed and a quarterfinal home date on Sunday...a Raven win over the Warriors would send the Penmen on the road no matter what else happens.
